I was saddened. Stunned. Shocked. Bewildered. Dismayed. And I had good reason to be. My parents had just told me that one of my best friends was dying of leukemia. And he was going to die soon. Very, very soon. But my grief was especially sharp because of an incident that had happened the previous day between this friend, Marty, and me. It was when I told my parents about it that they decided to finally tell me all the bad news about Marty's illness. You see, I had realized that Marty was sick. It was no secret in the neighborhood. Besides, you just can't have a good friend ill and not know about it. Yes, I knew he was sick. I just didn't know that he was that sick. Why didn't I realize?

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